Self Education

So I'm still in post as of this blog, actually pre-post. In about a week I get to go down to Florida and edit the movie, but more on that later.

So I let's start with the decision to make my own movie. Great idea for a number of reasons 1) The crap I was auditioning for anyway was horrible 2) It was such a rat race 3) Always wanted to make my own movie anyway 4) One of my jobs was working at Blockbuster and I saw preview for Hannah Takes the Stairs (hannahtakesthestairs.com) and knew I could make my own movie.

There's those two types than inspire you to do something. One is so inspirational that you feel it's your calling to follow in their footsteps, the other is the kind that looks so bad or easy that you know you feel "I can do better than that". I'll let you guess which one I thought after seeing that trailer.

But one of my roommates had given up the dream of being an actor and decided to back home to Little Rock and be a loser that tries to pick up girls by telling them about how he used to live in Hollywood and the other roommate finally found out he was gay after having gay sex for the first time with his friend now turned boyfriend and decided to move into his apartment. So now I had no place to stay, and the seminar was in a month. So I decided to use the ol' puppy dog eyes on a girl I was seeing to get her to take me in for a month. Wow, those Armenians. She cooked for me and treated me like a king at first, soon as I moved in I was a Pariah. I've waited tables and taught high school students. I can up with a bitch that goes off on me because she can't stand the sound of me clipping my fingernails.

So after a month of her, and driving three times the distance to get to work for a month I've finally got to the seminar. I walk into some big stuido lot (Paramount Lot I think) and find my way to the auditorium. At the risk of sounding like somebody on his payroll, he is the guy to talk to if you want to make a movie. Anyone with common sense should know film school is a waste of money and time, all you get are contacts which you'll be doing anyway when you're doing the real thing. To paraphrase Tarantino (former student of Dov's), "Why spend money on filmschool when you could be using it on...your film?"

That was a bit of a tangent, but that's what I do. Anyway, I'm in there surrounded by a bunch of other people in an auditorium. Some of which were wearing expensive clothes indicating that they're TV actors or low level producers or some shit, there were also a lot of regular looking people, and people who knew way less than I did. Dov walked in before the seminar just checking over stuff and told us to mingle since we're all in the same boat. Who do I have around me? A kid from highschool who earned this trip in some Arts program...wow. I payed $400 and stayed in an apartment with this annoying girl for a month to learn how to make my dreams a reality, this guy doesn't know what the hell it's about and has no fucking idea how to handle all the info he's about to recieve. Guy on my right is some foreigner who kept taking his shoes off and proping them on the seat infront of him stinking up the adjacent seats...one of which would be mine.

So for two days I'm in this auditorium while Dov (webfilmschool.com) is blowing my mind with info for I think about eight hours a day. Trying to take notes while others are asking questions more advanced questions. One guy's a producer asking what the chances he'll get a return in investment on a movie he made starring Mickey Rooney. Dov say's he highly doubts it, I mean it's Mickey Rooney. Another woman is talking about a movie she's making in Hawaii. Dov say's he hates it here because it's like a small town where everyone and their cousin hears about something and they want in on it and hound the production. Just made a movie in Warren, AR so I know what that's about. Where the fuck are these people getting this money from in the first place, I'm wanting to hear about his low to no budget advice while I'm waiting for him to finish off the big budget stuff for all these money bags producers. Another guy asks what should he pay himself as a producer, Dov says "Pay yourself? Take money out of one pocket and put in the other. Ask a stupid question get a stupid answer." Not a person to suffer fools.

He did suffer me though, I asked him a lot questions during intermission about raising money and copyrighting. I got this 1) Whatever movie I'm making, save it for a later project. I'm too green, it's too big, and I'll fuck it up. 2) Judging from what he see's I'm not the kind of guy to raise lot's of money from Dentist's (he'll tell you all about that), just get $10,000 together and make it on DV. 3) He gave me and everyone else his phone # to call him with problems. Which I've used around six times.

So it's all said and done, I've packed, ditched the Armenian, made a two day trip home, and now I've got to come up with a plan to make money and write a whole new script. This might take longer than the three months I intially thought. But I better make it fast...or else I'm that guy that left to the big city and failed and has to come back and live with his grandparents.

People were treating me like a celebrity even though I hadn't really done anything but learn. And I was all cocky with my big ideas and stuff. But it was cool to get away from the city and come home...for about a week. Plus people didn't really know what to say when I said I'm gonna make a movie in Warren either.

So what did I do next? Where did a whole new script come from? How would I raise the money? Where would I find actors? Stay tuned for the next exciting blog and find out.